This review was commissioned by Eammon over on my Ko-fi account.
That’s the sound of a shamisen. This traditional Japanese musical instrument has three strings stretched over a very thin neck and a hollow body often covered with animal skin or, in modern cases, synthetic coverings. While the shamisen can be plucked with one’s fingers, it’s often played with a plectrum called a bachi. The sound has a resonant, folksy quality that’s been compared to that produced by a banjo, unsurprising given the similarities in design for both instruments. Historically, the shamisen was used to underscore kabuki performances, oftentimes requiring a mix of proficiency and improvisation as the player had to match the energy and interpretations of the accompanying singer narrating the drama unfolding on stage.
The shamisen accompanies this famous 2014 bout between Meiko Satomura and Kana. The player begins his performance as part of Kana’s ring entrance as she forgoes her usual entrance music for this match. The live entrance music performance has its own tradition in pro wrestling–from the half-hearted grumbles of Lemmy for Triple H to In Living Colour bringing out CM Punk at WrestleMania–so it’s no real surprise for Kana to have a special performance to accompany her on her own produce show.
The real shock is when the bell rings, the music continues, and the lights dim. There’s an audible reaction from the crowd once they realize what they’re in store for. It’s the sound of awe setting in as everyone in Korakuen Hall figures out they’re about to see something special.
One of the most wonderful things about this match is that at a certain point, it becomes unclear whether the wrestling dictates the music or vice versa. They meld together almost instantly, note the way that Meiko’s first steps after the bell rings match so well to the first strums of the shamisen. At multiple points in the match, it feels like the music quickens past the wrestlers and the energy of it drives them forward, and at other times, the music slows to match the pauses in the action. It’s a lovely harmony they hit, combining the two mediums in a seamless way that I don’t think has ever been accomplished before or since.
Beneath all that though is just a great fucking match too.
Kana and Satomura are familiar opponents by this point, and their innate chemistry comes through immediately. As with so much of Meiko’s best work in the 2010s and beyond, it operates extremely well on reversing the intergenerational dynamic that she came up working in through the 2000s. Post-GAEA and with a whole new crop of joshi stars, Meiko finds herself as the established name with a target on her back. It’s an especially rich lineage here with Kane feeling like something of Meiko herself–combining a lot of that real snug mat work with the crisp strikes that Meiko became famous for.
That mentor/mentee dynamic lends a lot of drama here especially when combined with the best talents of the two involved. For one, there’s just the sheer physicality of this. You know that these two are throwing live rounds when each elbow and kick can overwhelm the plucks of the shamisen’s string or the beating of the bachi against the body. Beyond that, all the mat work feeling so struggle-filled and snug at every point here. There’s so many interesting and stunning little escapes and motions, one of my favorite comes early with a lightning fast slip under an attempted kick by Meiko that allows Kana to take her back down to the mat.
What the match takes advantage of too is Meiko’s uncanny ability to ride the shifting momentum of a match. She may just be history’s greatest “It’s so over/We’re so back” wrestler ever. She does this incredibly well because she rarely sticks to the traditional American three-act structure, but rather maximizes a more back and forth trading of control segments. Hell, she might be even better at it than the Pillars who often attempted similar ideas in their match structures. With Meiko though, she’s such a good seller and carries so much emotion into the back half of her matches, that she’s always either on the verge of defeat or becoming a sort of unstoppable force depending on where in the match she is.
It’s to Kana’s credit that she’s able to facilitate those dramatic shifts so well. For one, Kana’s so good on offense that she feels credible laying on the punishment to the veteran. But at the same time, there’s a frenzied panic she can convey too when it feels like the walls might be closing in. An especially dramatic cross armbreaker deep in the match gets beautifully underscored by the shamisen music. The music gets wilder, matching the struggle Kana has to exert to reach the ropes.
It’s also what makes the finish work so well again. After Meiko makes what seems to be a climactic comeback, Kana’s able to counter an attempted death valley driver into her own crossbody, and then a triangle for the win. A final, sudden turn of fate that moves things in her favor, a nice ending twist to get us over the finish line. Great pro wrestling done well, set to music that shifts and changes with it in the moment. A truly special piece of work that everyone should see.
Rating: ****¼
